No Child Goes Hungry is raising $4,000 to fund the development of a Religious Exploration curriculum, focusing on childhood hunger and hunger-relief resources as well as to create a video that describes our mission and vision. The curriculum and video are directed toward Unitarian Universalist congregations looking to build impactful and sustainable hunger-relief programs to lessen the instances of childhood hunger within their communities. A portion of funds raised will go towards an upgrade of our website to host our new curriculum materials and to the production of a newsletter for our donors.

No Child Goes Hungry (NCGH) is the brainchild of Rev. Kären Rasmussen, who currently serves as the director of the organization. While working with other hunger-relief and poverty support organizations, Kären became aware of just how problematic hunger is, particularly for children. Because of this, she envisioned a world where no child would go to bed hungry.

No Child Goes Hungry works to eliminate childhood hunger, one kid, one meal at a time. We currently provide grant money and mentorship for organizations building hunger advocacy programs that tackle the problem of local food insecurity. By providing grant money and mentorship, NCGH seeks to inspire, encourage, and support faith-based organizations and community outreach groups who are standing up to make sure no child goes to bed hungry. No Child Goes Hungry is now ready to expand into congregational Religious Exploration to accompany our mentorship program. Every dollar raised in this campaign allows us to empower more Unitarian Universalist congregations to build hunger-relief programs.

Beginning in the fall of 2018, NCGH plans to develop a Religious Exploration curriculum to provide resources for congregations to support a No Child Goes Hungry Sunday and a No Child Goes Hungry Family Workshop Day. These resources include flexible lesson plans for large and small groups from preschool through adult with options for mixed-age groups, lesson extensions, and links to additional, useful resources. Each lesson will reference our Seven Principles or Six Sources. There are four Core RE Components NCGH would like to develop:

Introduction of No Child Goes Hungryto the Congregational RE Community: Information will be provided about childhood hunger in the United States, the work and mission of NCGH and how congregations can build and promote hunger relief activities within their communities. These materials will be downloadable and include fact sheets, a video that highlights the NCGH mission and vision, and activity guides for projects such as food drives to serve as introductions for hunger-relief efforts.

Time for All Ages Stories: We will create stand-alone stories that support the sermon, downloadable off our website that religious educators can use within a service to introduce the topics of hunger and hunger-relief.

Children’s Chapel Services and Workshops for Children, Youth and Families: Materials from NCGH will include Children’s Chapel services (including chalice lighting, songs, story, reflection, and closing) and workshops with ready-to-use (or customizable) activities for Preschool to Grade 1; and Gr. 2-5. In addition, separate related workshops for Gr. 6-8 and Gr. 9-12 as well as one intergenerational activity will be provided.

Family “No Child Goes Hungry” Workshop Day: NCGH will develop various activities to support a workshop day where families come together to learn about local childhood hunger issues and how to alleviate hunger. The program will include family-friendly activities as well as separate children’s activities for work in smaller groups in age-appropriate settings. At the conclusion of the workshop, the congregation will have an action list from which to move forward with a sustainable hunger-relief plan.

By creating all of the Religious Exploration materials to support a No Child Goes Hungry Sunday and a No Child Goes Hungry Family Workshop Day, we can build additional support for congregations who want to tackle the challenge of hunger-relief in their communities and expand the impact of No Child Goes Hungry. By building effective and sustainable hunger-relief programs in their congregations, Unitarian Universalists all over this country can change the lives of so many children.

We anticipate a total cost of $4,000 to fully fund this initiative. All money raised during this campaign will go directly towards building the Religious Exploration curriculum, website upgrade, video production, and newsletter creation.

To learn more about No Child Goes Hungry, please visit our website at www.NoChildGoesHungry.net

If you’d like to make a donation in someone’s name, please contact Rev. Kären at info@NoChildGoesHungry.net and she will happily provide a gift card for the recipient.

Let’s Feed Some Kids!

Project UU Connection

How Does Your Project Claim Unitarian Universalism?

Our Unitarian Universalist values and principles figure prominently into the very mission of No Child Goes Hungry. Our 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th principles are especially salient to our work. In our principles, we talk of the dignity of every person. We should all have the dignity of being food secure. As Unitarian Universalists, we also believe we are inherently called to eliminate suffering. Providing education that empowers congregations to develop hunger-relief programs is one way we can do that.

How Is Your Project Claimed by Unitarian Universalism?

Our founder, Rev. Kären Rasmussen is a Unitarian Universalist minister who has spent a considerable amount of time in her ministry working to alleviate hunger in the communities she serves. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Britepaths, an organization in Fairfax, VA that helps stabilize low-income, working families in crisis. When Rev. Kären first envisioned No Child Goes Hungry, she joined the Entrepreneurial Ministry training program where, in addition to learning how to build her non-profit, she developed relationships with other Unitarian Universalists working to make this world a better place for all.

Our Religious Exploration curriculum will be developed in conjunction with Linnea Nelson, a credentialed and experienced Director of Religious Exploration, Executive Director of UU Wellspring and the current Vice-President of LREDA, the national Liberal Religious Educators Association. Her passion is exploring community-building activities to support faith development, spiritual practice, social justice, and worship for children, youth, and families in our dynamic faith. Linnea has a Master’s degree in school psychology and undergraduate degrees in education and business.

No Child Goes Hungry has provided multiple grants/seed money to Unitarians Universalist congregations where Kären frequently hears “We want to teach our children and adults more about hunger and how to eliminate it, do you have any lesson plans for it? Do you have stories to tell in Worship when we talk to our congregation? ” This Faithify campaign is about pairing hunger-relief education in our congregations with creating sustainable programs to feed children in our communities.

As we are all one in the interconnected web, we have also provided grants to multiple faith-based organizations and other groups interested in tackling childhood hunger in their communities. We are connected; therefore when one of us suffers, we all suffer. By adding a Religious Exploration component to our offerings, we can expand our training to more congregations in more areas throughout the United States, allowing them the opportunity to expand our reach and their aid within more communities.

No Child Goes Hungry believes it is our social responsibility to eradicate hunger in all forms. No child, regardless of age, race, creed, economic status, or geographical location should ever go to bed hungry. Turning to our Unitarian Universal principles, we feel called to support the right of every child to play, grow, learn and love without the devastating effects of hunger. One person can make a difference; one donation can make a difference. We can change our world one community at a time simply by feeding our children.